A Historical Review on Urticaria

Background: Urticaria is a response of the body to extrinsic or intrinsic stimuli and is among the 20 most common skin diseases with tremendous impact on patient's quality of life. It is often disregarded as a trivial disease by many physicians. Urticaria is a highly prevalent condition resulting in large numbers of medical consultations worldwide. The exact figures are lacking from many coun­tries but it is not an uncommon condition. Aim: This review was planned to analyse the historical understanding of Urticaria in medical literature pertaining to Unani & Modern medical sciences. Materials & Methods: The Classical Unani literature and manuscripts kept in various Libraries in Arabic, Persian and Urdu languages were reviewed and translated into English. The review of modern literature is done by going through the online survey of Google scholar and Science direct. Results: A thorough analysis from the above literary sources reveals that the diseases was prevalent since time immemorial. However the earliest the documented evidence of the disease is found in an old Chinese manuscript written between 1000-200 years BC. Hippocrates was the first Greek physician who described Urticaria. Many renowned Unani physicians such as Avicenna (980-1037) and Rhazes (865-925) described the causes, pathology, features and management of Urticaria as Sharaa with many effective formulations in their manuscripts. Conclusion: From this review it is concluded that physicians in ancient time were also aware about this disease and they tried to reveal the facts about this disease. Further, modern physicians carried their work in more explained way.